Good Luck Getting Laid (And Other Things You Shouldn't Say)
by TrixieFirecracker
Summary: Let's pretend that Cassidy was never the big bad of season 2. How would he and Mac work things out? A story of how Mac and Cassidy come together as adults.
1. Chapter 1

Introduction

I always felt the main story arc of season 2 was out of left field. I know the writers have said that they have known Cassidy was Veronica's rapist since season 1, but I always felt like it never really worked for me. So I'm reconning season 2's arc. Cassidy was never a rapist and rather than Cassidy being the bus bomber, Woody Goodman was the bomber in an effort to silence the boys. That night on the top of the Neptune Grand was Veronica and Logan trying to talk Cassidy down from jumping off when he hears Woody has blown up the plane bringing him back to Neptune rather than face charges. Veronica breaks down when she thinks her father died in the explosion and in that moment, when Cassidy thinks no one is watching him, he jumps.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 1

Cassidy had expected to die. He was surprised to find out he hadn't jumped out far enough and hand landed awkwardly on the balcony on the floor below the rooftop level where he and Veronica had fought for his life. He'd broken both his legs and cracked some ribs when he landed. Cassidy had been rushed to the hospital to treat his physical injuries and then was shuttled off to a mental hospital to treat his depression. He'd been there for a month before Mac had been able to convince Dick to allow her to visit.

"Cassidy?" Mac's arms wrapped around him and he shifted in his wheelchair to shrug her away from him. Mac looked startled and pulled away from him. "Aren't you happy to see me? Did you get the letter I sent? I've missed you."

Cassidy took the brake off his wheelchair and wheeled himself over to a window and looked out disinterestedly. He didn't feel like talking and especially not to her. He could feel the pity radiating from her words and body language. He didn't want to be pitied. He was sick of talking about his feelings and his motivation for what had happened. He hadn't even read the letter she'd sent him. He'd shoved it under his mattress in the room he shared with a middle aged man named John.

"Aren't you going to talk to me? Are you mad at me?" There was desperation in her voice.

Cassidy turned his head to look at her. She looked terrible. The colorful streaks in her hair were growing out. He realized he'd never seen that before. Mac was meticulous about that sort of thing. There were dark circles under her eyes and she'd grown smaller than ever. There was a part of him that felt badly about being the cause of her pain, but another part was annoyed. The annoyed part won out and he lashed out at her. "Mad at you? Why aren't you mad at me? I left you alone in that room with no clothes. Nothing. How can you visit me and pretend like that never happened? You're pathetic."

Mac's eyes flashed angrily. "Pathetic? I'm not the one who tried to jump off the Neptune Grand and failed! I figured you were upset and weren't thinking straight, but maybe you were just being an asshole."

"I'm an asshole? Well, I guess I'd rather be an asshole than some pathetic girl who can't see that she's not wanted anymore. Didn't you get the hint when I grabbed all your stuff when you were in the shower? You couldn't even turn me on that night. Don't you understand that I wanted you to get away from me?" He grabbed her hand and pulled her close so he could whisper in her ear. "Don't come back. I don't want you here. "

Mac pulled her hand back and appraised him. She seemed to be trying to decide if he was being honest with her or was just lashing out. She nodded; more to herself it seemed than to him, and in a daze said, "You're right. It was a mistake to come here. I won't be back."

And she did leave and she never visited him there again. He spent a year in the hospital getting help for his depression and counseling to help him cope with what he had gone through. By the end of his time there, Cassidy was packing up his things and found her letter. He had never really forgotten what had happened with Mac and his counselors had urged him to write her a letter and apologize for his behavior and explain himself, but Cassidy wasn't one for talking about his feelings (it had been hard enough for him to discuss things with his counselors) and he'd put it off. He opened the letter and looked at Mac's handwriting. He'd never actually seen her write out anything by hand and he was surprised to see how neat her handwriting was. The letter was obviously written shortly after he'd arrived in the hospital. It detailed how much she missed him and that she was hoping to convince Dick to put her on the list of his allowed visitors. She told him she didn't quite understand why he had felt the need to gather all her belongings and leave her in naked and alone in the hotel room, but that she knew there were things going on with him that she hadn't known about. She told him she forgave him and hoped they could move on from the incident. Then Mac went into detail about gossip she'd heard about various classmates from the beginning of that summer and what classes she was signing up for when she attended Hearst in the fall.

Cassidy sighed and shoved the letter into his backpack. He'd ruined the one good thing in his life that he had. It was a few years before he'd be able to try again with her.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 2

"You honestly don't understand what I'm saying?"

John's voice was sarcastic and Cassidy took a long sip of the beer he was drinking before he replied, "I'm saying you're wrong."

John sighed and began again. "Okay, you have been dating different women, but they're all different aspects of the same woman. You got me?" Cassidy nodded and tried to focus his attention on the game that was being shown on the TV behind John's head. He didn't think he was going to like the way this discussion was going. "So who was the first girl you fucked after coming into the hospital?"

Cassidy thought for a minute. His brain was feeling fuzzy from the two beers he'd already consumed. "Deb."

"Alright, Deb. So Deb was a heroin addict that had tried to commit suicide while in rehab which is why she was sent to the hospital where you and I were staying, right?" Cassidy nodded and John took that as a sign to continue. "When you think of Deb, what stands out to you?"

"Her hair. She was always dying her hair funny colors."

"Do you know anyone else who used to dye her hair funny colors?" John spoke slowly like one would speak to a child. It annoyed Cassidy. He wasn't a moron; he had skipped a grade in school and considered himself intelligent. It was the one thing he had over Dick and he prided himself on it.

"Mac," he spit out and pretended like he was fascinated by the ingredient label on the beer he was drinking so he wouldn't have to see John's smirk. "So what if they both liked to dye their hair? Teenage girls do that shit all the time. That doesn't make them the same person. Believe me, Mac wouldn't be strung out on heroin."

"Do you remember why you stopped dating her?"

"Uh, her parents took her home, right?" Cassidy was lying through his teeth and he knew John would see through it. He and John had been roommates in the hospital together and had occasionally gone to the same group therapy groups. Strictly enforced early bedtimes had led the two to have some deep conversations about their lives and what had led them to the hospital.

"No. Her parents took her for the day to buy some new clothes since she'd be moving back into the rehab soon. She got her hair dyed back to its natural color and you dropped her like a hot potato."

"Yeah, well . . . things hadn't been going well with her."

John whooped with laughter. "Bullshit! You had sex with her that morning. That was so gross, I could hear you in that broom closet. You dropped her because you weren't attracted to her without the tutti fruiti pink hair or whatever color it was that week. She didn't remind you of Mac anymore."

Cassidy signaled the waitress at the bar to bring him another beer. Fuck it, he'd take a cab home tonight. He needed to be drunk right now. "Can we not discuss this?

John shook his head. "No, we have to discuss this. Okay, the only chick I can think of that you were serious about was Molly. She was that hacker that you dated for a couple of years until she got busted for being involved with that Target security breach."

"Yeah, so?"

"So? You would have stayed with her through that bullshit until she told you that she was cheating on you with a Russian mobster and that since he could afford to post her bail and you couldn't, she was leaving you for him."

Cassidy was tired of this discussion and decided to connect the dots for John. "So you think that since Molly was a hacker and that Mac was involved with computers that means I was only dating Molly because she reminded me of Mac. That's not true. I really liked Molly."

"What was there to like? She chain smoked and was mean to everyone, including you. She never paid for anything and expected you to take care of her. Weren't there a couple of times when she told you she was pregnant just to fuck with you? Every time you spoke about her it was about how good she was with computers. That's it. I don't you ever telling me about a present for your birthday or Christmas that she got you. I don't think I even remember her doing anything nice for you. You stayed with her because the hacking reminded you of Mac." John paused for a second and then continued in a horrified voice. "Oh my god, was Mac that mean to you? You need serious help if she was."

The waitress brought a fresh round of beers to the table and Cassidy smiled at her briefly. The waitress winked at him and Cassidy suddenly averted his eyes. He still wasn't comfortable with women and while he had been polite in smiling at her, he definitely wasn't interested. Her blonde hair and elfin features reminded him too much of Veronica Mars. "No, she was really nice and very understanding about my problems. I just fucked it all up with my dysfunction."

"This is your chance to make things right. You're moving back to Neptune and taking back Phoenix Land Trust from Dick, so find her and talk to her," John said as he pulled out a few twenties from his wallet. He waved Cassidy's credit card away. "Nah, this is on me. Think of it as a going away gift."

"And what? Tell her I'm sorry? What if she doesn't forgive me?" That idea scared him the most. He'd thought of apologizing to Mac a million times and the thought of what she'd say to him frightened him.

"You have to take that chance. Once you apologize to her, you'll be free. You won't be stuck dating all these chicks that remind you of her. Hopefully, she'll take pity on you and she'll fuck you. Then you'll really get her out of your system." John stood and shrugged on his jacket. "Are you ready to head home? Let's share a cab. You're paying for that."

Cassidy nodded and pulled out his cell phone to call a cab company. He couldn't believe he was willingly moving back to Neptune. He really wasn't excited by the idea, but he was sick of Dick fucking up with the company and losing money. It was time to make Phoenix Land Trust profitable again.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 3

Dick Casablancas took a long puff from the vaporizer he was using to smoke marijuana and blew a large cloud of vapor into the air. "Check it out, I can make it look like a dragon! Hold on a second, just watch."

"Wait, are you trying to make the smoke look like a dragon or are you trying to look like a dragon with all that vapor?" Cassidy asked Dick as he waved away the cloud that had gathered around his head.

Dick looked confused. "I'm not sure. I kept watching all these YouTube videos, but now you've got me all confused." He took drew in another puff and blew it out. "What was that movie that just came out with the elves and the Hobbits and that bad ass looking dragon?"

"Are you talking about _The Hobbit_?" Cassidy shook his head and continued unpacking the boxes in the beach house he was now sharing with Dick. "You know, I really think you should cut that out. You're getting stupider by the day. How did you even get a license to smoke that stuff?"

Dick winked at him as he pulled up the wetsuit that he'd tied around his waist. "I told the doctor I had problems with depression. He knew who you were and I cried a blue streak about our dad abandoning us, it was easy peasy." Dick grabbed a handful of cereal from a box that had been sitting on the kitchen sink and popped it into his mouth. "Alright, I'm about to get wet. See you later, Beav."

Cassidy winced and glared at Dick. "Hold on, we need to talk about getting Phoenix Land Trust up and running again. I looked at the website yesterday and it's a mess. What happened? You haven't had anyone update it since it was created?"

Dick gave Cassidy a piercing look. "You mean when Ghost World created it for you?"

Cassidy pretended like Dick was making a big deal out of nothing and started to break down a box. "Yeah, since then. If we want people to take us seriously, we have to get that site updated. Do you have anyone working for us that can do that? Someone in the IT department?"

Dick choked on the cereal that he was still eating straight from the box. "IT department? How many employees do you think we have?"

Cassidy shrugged. "I dunno. Ten?"

"Right now, it's just me and this old lady that I hired as a secretary. I hired her because I was really starting to rack up the sexual harassment lawsuits."

Cassidy could feel his blood pressure starting to rise and he began to yell. "Are you kidding me? Two people work at the company? We should have had enough work for several employees! When I left, we were worth six million dollars! All my hard work is just down the drain?"

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, Cassidy. We'll do whatever we need to do to get the company back up and running. I don't want you to go jumping off the Neptune Grand again." Dick seemed to be serious about that statement. "Listen, we'll get Mac to do it again. I hear she still does that kinda stuff on the side."

Cassidy was surprised. "She doesn't do that for her main job? I kinda imagined she'd made a business of it."

"Nah, she got a job working for Kane Software recently. I think she still does some of the cyberstalking stuff for Ronnie too. You want me to call her?" Dick pulled out his cellphone and began scrolling through his contacts.

"Hold on, you have Mac's number?" Jealousy welled up in him. "Why do you have Mac's phone number?"

Dick looked up from his phone smugly. "She and I got to be very close during college. We still run in the same circles. She hangs out with Veronica, I hang out with Logan. Sometimes it kinda gets to be double date-y."

Cassidy decided Dick had to be messing with him. There's no way Mac would willingly hang out with Dick. He decided to call Dick's bluff. "Yeah, you should call her," he tried to say nonchalantly. "Go ahead."

Dick looked confused. "Right now?"

"Why not?"

"Cause she's at work. I don't want to interrupt her. I'll just send her a text message." Before Cassidy could press the issue, Dick had a composed a message and hit send. "There. She'll get back to me soon." Dick zipped up his wetsuit the rest of the way and plugged his phone in to charge while he was out surfing.

Cassidy opened his mouth to say something and then shut it. There was nothing he could say. He'd just have to wait and see what happened.

Sitting in her cubicle at Kane Software, Mac watched her phone light up and saw that she had a message from Dick Casablancas. She really hoped he wasn't sending her another dick pic. Looking at the phone, she saw it was an actual message: _Cassidy is back in town. We should talk._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 4

Mac looked around at restaurant where Dick had finally agreed to meet her. It had taken a full day of negotiating via text to get him to a place that didn't have a drive through. Leave it to Dick to go cheap on a woman he wasn't going to be able to have sex with. Mac decided that this might happen if Dick thought he could have sex with her, he was a cheapskate with everyone but himself. She thought back to a birthday when they were still in college where he'd given her a $5 gift certificate to a fancy steak house. He'd apparently forgotten that she was a vegan. That was typical Dick.

Mac knew Dick had arrived when she felt someone run his hands over her carefully coiffed hair. "Hey there, Miley Cyrus. What's up?"

"Get your hands out of my hair, Dick!" Mac patted her hair and hoped it was still in place. "So, why's Cassidy back? And why text me about it? Neptune's a big place. I'm sure we don't run in the same circles anymore. It's been ten years since he and I talked. He doesn't even think about me. I know I don't think about him."

Dick's usually jolly demeanor faded. "Really? Not at all? I know that he still thinks about you. He had a hissy fit when he found out I had your phone number."

"Weren't you the one who told me I was just his beard? That he didn't care about me at all?" Mac had never let Dick really know how much his comments in freshman year of college had hurt her, but she couldn't resist bringing it back up once it seemed like he was interested in playing matchmaker for herself and Cassidy.

Dick realized he had some explaining to do to Mac. He knew that Cassidy cared about Mac. Once Cassidy had started therapy, the doctors had requested Dick attend a few of his counseling sessions. Apparently Cassidy had a lot of resentment about Dick's treatment of him and he had wanted to confront Dick about it.

*FLASHBACK*

Dick walked into the room and sat down on the couch next to Cassidy. "So am I here to say sorry for treating you like a big brother?"

There was a wad of tissues in Cassidy's hand and he swiped it at his eyes before he turned his head and spoke to Dick. "Do you even realize how your treatment affected me? I never thought I could tell you about what was going on with Woody because I didn't think you'd care! Or you'd accuse me of being gay and liking it!" Fresh tears welled up in his eyes and he turned his head away so that Dick wouldn't see.

Things suddenly became very real for Dick. For awhile he could pretend everything was okay and that this was all Cassidy's problem and not his. Someone had hurt his brother and his brother didn't feel safe telling him. It was too much for him and instead of addressing his part in the issue, so he asked a question that he'd been wondering about since grad night. "But aren't you gay?"

Cassidy made a frustrated noise. "What? No! I had a girlfriend."

Dick looked at Cassidy incredulously. "Mac? Wasn't she like your beard or something? You can't tell me you were really into her."

Cassidy picked at the material that covered the couch. "I was into her," he said softly.

Vaguely, Dick remembered a drunken night telling Mac that she was just Cassidy's beard and that he hadn't cared about Mac at all. He really didn't want Cassidy to find out about that, so he mentioned something he'd seen recently on the Hearst campus. "Hey man, I don't want to steal your sunshine, but I think your girl is cheating on you. I've seen her getting pretty cozy with this guy who sells essays and tests to students at Hearst."

Despite the fact that he'd told Mac he never wanted to see her again, Cassidy's heart lurched. He'd kinda hoped that despite what had happened between them, they'd find a way to be together once he'd gotten out of the hospital. Now it seemed that she'd moved on without him. "We broke up a few months ago. She can see whoever she wants."

"Okay, boys. We're getting off topic. Cassidy, let's discuss how Dick made you feel when he made fun of you when you were at the Spring Carnival," the therapist broke in, trying to get them back on track.

"No, Mac's a topic that's relevant to the Spring Carnival" Dick said. "Mac was his girlfriend and I humiliated him in front of her. I made him feel like a loser in front of someone he liked." He turned to Cassidy. "It was wrong and I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything. I know I was shitty to you."

He had expected Cassidy to say something mean to him or to hit him. For a second, it looked like Cassidy wanted to do both. Instead he curled into himself and started sobbing. Dick didn't know what to do, so he reached out and hugged his brother.

*End Flashback*

Mac snapped her fingers in Dick's face. "Did you get high before you came here? You shouldn't be driving if you're doing that."

Dick smacked her hand away. "Get your computer virus riddled hands out of my face."

"I don't do that stuff anymore," Mac huffed. She picked up the menu and started looking through it. "Why don't you stop wasting my time and tell me what you want." Mac turned the menu from back to front. "There's nothing in here for me to eat! You couldn't pick someplace that I could eat at too? I'm on a lunch break from Kane Software. Now I'm going to have to drink the kale smoothie I was saving for after yoga."

Dick flipped through the menu and pointed to the alcoholic drinks section. "Does being vegan mean you don't drink alcohol? Have a pina colada. That's got coconut milk and pineapple. It's like a healthy shake. With alcohol."

Mac glared at Dick. She'd had enough and stood up. "I'm going. Tell Cassidy I'm glad he's feeling better. And stop sending me pictures of your penis. I'm not interested."

"Wait!" Dick grabbed Mac's wrist to keep her from leaving. "I'm an asshole. You know I am. I just wanted to tell you that we need help rebuilding the Phoenix Land Trust website. Since you built it, Cassidy was hoping you'd bring it back from the dead."

Mac sat back down. "Cassidy asked for me?"

Dick shifted uncomfortably in his seat. It would be a small white lie and if he could bring Cassidy back together with Mac that would be a nice thing to do. Good karma, right? "Well, he wanted to ask you himself, but he doesn't have any contact info for you. So I said I'd ask you, kinda smooth the way for him. I know you didn't have an easy break up, but you're the best and he knows it. Would you be willing to do it? We'd pay you. He just knows you do really good work."

Mac looked into Dick's hopeful eyes. Something told her that she was being scammed in some way, but that was how she felt every time she agreed to do something for Dick. Could she work with Cassidy? It had been ten years and she'd dated other men since him. She'd had time to get over what happened. Besides, the Casablancas boys would pay her well and she did want to get some work done on the new condo she'd recently bought. She nodded. "Alright. I'll do it. Pass my number on to Cassidy and tell him to send me a text when he's ready to meet and we'll set something up." She grabbed her bag and stood up again. "And tell him that he needs to apologize to me. No insincere bullshit about he's sorry he made me feel 'that way' and all that. He knows what he did wrong and he needs to apologize for it or I'm not doing anything for him."

Dick had always been scared when Mac truly got angry with him and nodded vigorously. "Yep, I will tell him that. I will use your exact words and he will be sorry when he apologizes, I promise. Scout's honor," he said as he made a cross sign over his heart.

Mac walked away and called over her shoulder to him, "That's not how the Boy Scouts do it!" She got back to her car and waited for Dick to exit the restaurant. Mac watched as Dick pulled his cell phone out and started to make a call. Turning on the latest piece of technology that she'd been designing for Kane Software, Mac's interceptor scanned several frequencies before she found the one Dick's phone was using.

"Yeah, I just met with Mac. She said she'd do it."

"Really? That's great!" It was the first time Mac had heard Cassidy's voice in ten years and she hated to feel her heart skip a beat at the sound of it.

"Bad news though, brochacho. She says you have to apologize and no insincere bullshit. You gotta really be sorry."

Mac heard Cassidy's sigh. "Yeah, I was planning on doing that anyway."

A beeping noise broke into their conversation. "Listen, I just got a snap chat from Madison. I hope it's another picture of her hairless cat."

"Madison Sinclair is caring for something besides herself?" Cassidy asked Dick incredulously and Mac laughed in spite of her anger with him.

"Think of another name for cat that starts with a P and ends with a Y." Cassidy made a disgusted sound over the phone and Dick cackled. "Yeah, you know what I'm talking about! I probably won't be home tonight. Bye."

The conversation ended and Mac sat looked at the interceptor. She suddenly felt like she was back in high school sitting outside of the Casablancas house after Cassidy broke up with her, listening to his phone calls after he broke up with her the first time. Mac didn't like what Cassidy's reappearance was doing to her. She'd had enough insanity for the day. She was going to call in sick for the rest of the day and go visit Veronica.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 5

"Did he have to move back to Neptune? I was so happy here without him." Mac took the paper wrapped bottle she and Veronica had been sharing and took a big swig from it. They were sitting on some swings in a park near Logan's beach house.

"Well, it is his home town too. And he owns a business here." Veronica took the bottle back from Mac and capped it. She didn't want Mac getting too drunk. Perhaps just enough to start being truthful.

Mac glared at Veronica. "So? I've been here longer. One: he's younger than me, so he's lived here less time. Two: He left for ten years and tramped it up in San Diego."

Veronica couldn't contain herself. "'Tramped it up'? According to Logan, he was living in a small condo down there and doing data entry for a friend that he met in the hospital. He says Cassidy lived like a monk."

Mac's voice perked up. "Really?"

"Mac, I love you, but I wish you'd admit to yourself you're interested in him. It's okay. Aren't I the woman who's dating a guy from high school who has ripped my heart out how many times? And I keep going back and asking for more?" Veronica took the bottle, screwed the cap back off it, and took a large sip. "Perhaps we need some more of this if we're going to make it through the night."

"He was living like a monk, really? How does Logan know?" Mac pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and stared at it. "He hasn't even text me yet. What's he waiting for?"

Veronica took Mac's phone and put it in her purse. "Let's stop waiting by the phone for text messages and really discuss what's going on." Mac looked sadly at Veronica's purse and nodded. "Every time we have discussed Cassidy and how he stomped on your heart, we have never discussed what would happen if you and he wanted to try again. So?"

Mac looked thoughtful and it took awhile to gather her thoughts. "I hated him for so long, Veronica. It seems like I mourned the loss of that relationship for a really long time. I didn't let guys get close to me in a relationship for a really long time, you know? I never thought about a do over for us. It didn't seem possible, especially once he moved down to San Diego." Mac was quiet again for a moment. "We don't even know what he wants now. He probably just wants me to fix up the website and then he won't need me anymore."

"You don't think what you two had was special?"

Mac shrugged. "Obviously not if it's taken him ten years to get back to me with an apology."

Veronica handed back the bottle of alcohol to Mac. "You might need this when I finish talking to you." Mac raised her eyebrows and took the bottle from her. "Remember last month when Logan had a ton of people over Thanksgiving dinner? And you skipped it because you went camping with your parents?" Mac nodded. "Well, Cassidy was there. He tried to avoid me for most of the night, but I was finally able to get him to talk to me. Of course, me being me, I started asking him questions about how he was doing and what he was up to . . ."

FLASHBACK

Veronica watched Cassidy as he waited patiently for someone to lose the video game that Dick and Logan were playing, so that he could play the winner. It was odd. She hadn't seen him in ten years and his mannerisms were still the same. In many ways, he was still the jumpy and insecure teenage boy she'd always known. In others, he was completely different. Now he looked into people's eyes when they spoke to him and he actually initiated conversation. He also didn't seem to be living in Dick's shadow.

Veronica sat down on the couch next to Cassidy and patted his knee. Cassidy jumped slightly and looked up at her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to ask how you were doing. I think it's been ten years since I've seen you."

"Yeah, it's been about ten years. I was meaning to talk to you tonight. I wanted to thank you for saving trying to save my life that night."

It had been a horrible night and Veronica hated thinking about it. She guessed that Cassidy did too. "Let's not talk about that. How are you doing? What have you been up to?"

Logan and Dick had started a new game. Cassidy gave a sidelong glance at Veronica and held up a finger to her as a gesture for her to wait a moment. "I said I wanted next game. This is bullshit!"

Logan paused the game and Dick looked over and said, "You are talking to Veronica. Why don't you just ask her about Mac and stop pretending like you have anything else you two want to talk to each other about?" Dick looked back and Logan. "Carry on."

Logan looked at Dick. "Not cool, man." He unpaused the video game and mouthed an apology at Cassidy and Veronica.

Cassidy turned to Veronica was a cautious expression on his face. "So how's Mac?"

"Pretty good."

"That's good," Cassidy nodded and picked at invisible lint on his jeans.

"Did you have anything else you wanted to ask me about?"

Cassidy turned his body to Veronica and gave her his full attention. "I'm moving back to Neptune in a month. I know the chances are high that I'm going to run into her. So I'm wondering how much she still hates me."

Veronica took in a deep breath. "Well, I'm not gonna lie. When you are discussed, kind words are not always used."

Cassidy nodded. "Yeah, I figured as much. I know I need to apologize to her, and I'm hoping you can tell me how receptive she'll be."

"What's your end game here, Cassidy? Do you want to apologize for being an asshole or is there something deeper at work?"

Logan and Dick's shit talking while they played suddenly got very silent as everyone in the room waited for Cassidy to answer. "Mac was the best girlfriend I ever had, but she came into my life at the wrong time. I was in a really dark place and I wasn't able to give her what she needed as a boyfriend. I was horrible to her when I broke up with her and I know I need to apologize for that."

"So nothing else? Just an apology about that? Why not just send her a Facebook message or something? There's nothing that you have told me you wanted to say that needs this important face to face conversation with her."

"Why are you so against me talking to Mac?" Cassidy was visibly irritated with Veronica now.

"You weren't the one that had to be there to pick up the pieces after you left her alone and naked in a room at the Neptune Grand! You didn't even leave her with a cell phone so she could call someone to bring her clothes! And then, despite her being 'the best girlfriend you ever had', you break up with her in the most asshole way possible when she comes to visit you in the hospital. I'm the one that was there to help her through all of that. So you'll excuse me if I feel a little protective of my friend." The room was eerily quiet and Veronica gathered her things to leave. "I'm sorry Logan, I need to get out of here. I'll stay at my dad's house tonight."

*END FLASHBACK*

"That's it?" Mac asked Veronica.

"That's it," Veronica confirmed.

Mac fiddled with the chain that connected the swing to the swing set and said, "Do you think he was being sincere? Did he seem like he wanted something more?"

Veronica shrugged. "I dunno. That's for you to decide when he apologizes."

"Why didn't you tell me about this when it happened?"

"I didn't know how sincere he was being." Veronica looked over at her friend's unhappy face. "I'm sorry, I should have told you. Do you forgive me?"

Mac leaned over and hugged her friend. "Of course. You're just looking out for me."

"Alright, then you can have this back." Veronica reached in her bag and pulled out Mac's phone. There was a bright light flashing. "Looks like you got a message."

Mac unlocked the screen. "Speak of the devil. It's from Cassidy."

"How do you know?"

Mac looked up from reading the message. "Because it says, 'Hi, this is Cassidy'?"

"Oh, cool." Veronica waited while Mac finished reading the message. "What does Cassidy say?"

"Uh, he wants to meet for drinks tomorrow night," Mac said as she started typing a message back.

"And are you going?"

"Unless he changes his mind, yes. " Mac grabbed the bottle from Veronica and took a large gulp. "Would it be wrong to go to this meeting drunk? I'm not sure I can handle meeting the first guy who broke my heart sober."

Veronica saw a police officer stop his car across the street from the park and figured he was coming to see what she and Mac were up to. "Mac, I know it's been a rough day and you're kinda very drunk, but there's a police officer coming over here and he's probably going to arrest us for drinking in the park unless we get out of here."

Mac nodded. "Let's go."


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 6

Mac saw him standing in front of the restaurant waiting for her. She'd planned on finding a parking space far away and spending a few minutes checking out her appearance before she would be brave enough to enter the restaurant. Shit, what time was it? She'd left her condo fairly early for her meeting with Cassidy. She'd hoped to have the upper hand by waiting for him. Now here he was waiting for her and he'd seen her drive by in the sporty little car she'd treated herself to when she got the job at Kane Software. Mac gave up on having a few precious moments to summon her courage and drove the car over to the valet station. She got out, handed the keys to the valet, waited for the ticket, and walked to where Cassidy was waiting.

Cassidy smiled at her. "Wow, you look great."

On instinct, Mac tried to run her hands through her short hair (sometimes she forgot that her hair wasn't long) and held back the smile that was pulled at the corner of her mouth. "Thanks."

Cassidy pulled on the door to the restaurant and held it open for her. "I really like your hair. Dick told me you cut it, but he wasn't able to give me a good description. He just kept saying that it was short." Cassidy rubbed at the back of his neck and looked sideways at her. "I thought he was an idiot, unable to use his words, you know? But now I see that he might have been right. It's hard to describe how beautiful you are."

Whoa, he was pulling out all the stops in trying to be charming tonight. He was doing the rubbing the back of his neck while looking at her with those big eyes of his. There was a time before they broke up for the second time that she'd told him that she'd do anything for those sad eyes. Apparently, he still remembered. Mac smiled briefly at him. "Thanks." She was going to keep this conversation limited to his apology and what work he needed her to do to the website.

Cassidy approached the host stand. "Uh, I have reservations for eight. The name is Casablancas."

Mac was shocked to see Cassidy so sure of himself. There were times in high school that he had barely been able to make an order at the local coffee house. Now here he was looking strangers in the eye and speaking confidently. Being honest with herself, Mac had to admit it was a powerful aphrodisiac. The host led them to a table where they were left alone to consider the menu. Cassidy looked up at her. "Hey, I made sure this place had vegan food. I remember how rough it was to find you something to eat whenever we went on those 'Pizza Quests'. I was such an asshole back then. We should have been on a quest to find something we could both eat."

Mac was taken aback by the apology. "Yeah, you kind of were." She gave him a small smile and decided on a quinoa salad. "So I was thinking that you could tell me what you wanted changed on the old website."

Cassidy look at her for a long moment. "Do you want to talk about this right now? I know there are some things I need to say to you."

Mac considered what he said. "I don't want to do this."

"What?" Cassidy's heart started to pound.

"Let's play a game."

"What kind of game?" Cassidy asked suspiciously. His heartbeat was slowing down, but he was afraid of the kind of game Mac would ask him to play.

"Let's pretend that I don't know you and you don't know me and that Logan and Veronica set us up on a blind date." Mac looked into Cassidy's eyes, hoping he'd understand her.

"I don't understand. Don't you want me to apologize? Why do you want skip all of that?" The terrorized boy Mac had started dating in high school was starting to surface.

"I want just one night of something wonderful before we deal with everything that's happened between us," Mac said as she gave Cassidy a pleading look. "One night to figure out if this relationship that we've both been wondering about for ten years ever had a chance."

Cassidy understood what Mac was saying. "Alright, I'll play along. So we don't mention anything that happened in the past?"

"Well, obviously we can talk about the past, but nothing that happened between us. Total blank slate," Mac said.

"So we'll skip idle chit chat about Logan and Veronica and people we both might have known in high school. I hate doing that stupid chit chat thing on first dates," Cassidy admitted to Mac.

Mac giggled and nodded. "Me too. It's the worst. I had a date that spent the entire dinner telling me how much he hated grocery shopping. Turn out he did all his shopping at a nearby convenience store. Can you imagine what he was eating?"

"Hey, don't knock it. When I was in San Diego, I lived in this building downtown that was above a 7-11. There are a lot of things you can get there," Cassidy said and quirked an eyebrow at Mac.

Mac wrinkled her nose and laughed. "Ugh, gross. Don't you care about what you put in your body at all?"

"Okay, so maybe there were one or two visits to the doctor where he might have mentioned scurvy." Cassidy ducked his head and Mac couldn't tell if he was being honest or not.

"Really?"

"No, not really. C'mon, Mac. You know me better than that." Cassidy smiled at her. "Do you know what you want?"

Mac nodded and Cassidy signaled the waiter to come over. Mac decided that this game of pretend was one of her better ideas. She hoped that Cassidy would feel the same way by the end of the night.


	8. Chapter 8

AUTHOR'S NOTE: You get two chapters today to make up for the fact that nothing new will be posted until the Fourth of July. I hope everyone has a great week!

Chapter 7

"So we've got a blanket, a bottle of wine and glasses. I think we're ready." Cassidy held out his hand to Mac, "You should probably take off those shoes. You won't be able to walk in the sand with those."

Mac pulled off her shoes. "Where can I put these?" She asked looking around Cassidy and Dick's home.

"Just leave them on the counter," Cassidy said. "I think Dick said he's got someone coming in to clean tomorrow. It doesn't matter." He held his hand out to her again. "C'mon."

"Aren't you impatient?" Mac asked. "I would kill to live somewhere like this. This is Dick's place?"

Cassidy moved to the back door and opened it. "Yeah, my trust fund is wrapped up in Phoenix Land Trust. That's why I need it to start being successful again. I'd rather not be living with Dick."

Mac followed him out the door and to a spot a short distance away from the house. "It can't be that bad living with Dick."

"Well, he's not here a lot, so that's nice," Cassidy said and held out a corner of the blanket for Mac to take. "But when he is here, it's hard to get work done. He wants to play X-Box or smoke weed. The worst is when Madison comes over. She's really mean to me, you know?"

"It's not like she's nice to anyone else," Mac tried to comfort him. She sat down next to him on the blanket. "Did I ever tell you about what I discovered in high school about her?"

"No. What?"

"Pour me a glass of wine and I'll tell you." Mac waited while Cassidy did as she asked and then took a large sip before starting. "I'm sure you remember how I'm not like the rest of my family. They're blondes, I'm a brunette. They like camping and I'd rather be reading. About the time I reached high school, the differences were just too obvious, so I asked Veronica if she'd do a little investigating for me."

Cassidy poured himself a glass and took a sip. "What did she find out? Please tell me Madison was born a with guy and girl parts. I would love that. She keeps making jokes about my next job being at the IHOP. I'm sick of it."

"What? Why?" Mac asked, genuinely confused.

"It's a joke about me jumping off the Neptune Grand and how I should be flat as a pancake. Get it? IHOP? Pancakes?" Cassidy took another sip from his glass and had nearly finished his drink. "I don't see what Dick sees in her. She is a fucking bitch."

"Dick's not the nicest guy either," Mac said and thought back to his cruel words to her about how Cassidy never cared about her and he was only using her as his beard.

'Yeah, I know. He can be a total ass sometimes, but he's been really supportive of me since . . . you know . . . what happened. He just can't stand up to her. He's a nice guy when he's around the right people. Neptune just isn't a place with the right people." Cassidy sighed and looked at Mac. "I'm sorry. I got off on a tangent. What were you going to tell me about Madison? What did Veronica discover?"

"Veronica found out that my parents and Madison's parents received a substantial settlement from the hospital. We were switched at birth," Mac said. She finished her wine and took the bottle from Cassidy and poured herself another. "Pretty shitty luck, right?"

"I don't know if I see you as a Madison. Although you don't really look like a Cindy either. Your parents should have just named you Mac." Cassidy nudged her. "Wouldn't that sound good? Mac Mackenzie?"

He was trying to get her to laugh, but Mac didn't find much humor in the situation. "I just can't help wondering what it would have been like to have been raised with my biological family."

"I always wonder what it would have been like to be raised with a family that was nice to you." Cassidy shrugged. "We make do with what we're given. And the Mackenzies love you. I remember seeing them at your graduation. They were so proud of you. Look at the Sinclairs. They raised Madison. She's a shitty person. They were probably shitty parents."

Mac shook her head. "I don't think so. One time I crashed a party at Madison's house. I met her little sister. She was really sweet. And I met my biological mother. She seemed nice too." Mac lay down on the blanket and propped herself up on her elbows to look up at Cassidy. "I don't think my biological parents or my parents deserve to have a child like Madison. I don't know where her shitty personality came from."

Cassidy lay down on the blanket next to her. "Does Madison know?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. My parents don't know that I know." Mac turned and looked Cassidy. "Don't tell anyone. Not even Dick. He'll never be able to keep that to himself."

Cassidy was taken aback that Mac had shared something so personal with him. Maybe she was ready to forgive and forget and move on. He turned his head and spoke. "I'll keep it to myself."

"Thanks," Mac gave him a painful smile and wiped at some tears that had gathered in the corner of her eyes. "And you know I'm called Mac because of my last name, right? It's not because I'm some Apple fangirl, right?"

Cassidy laughed. "I know, I know. I remember how annoyed you were when all the computers in the computer lab were replaced with Macs. I think there was a week when you told Clemmons what a big mistake he made every time you saw him in the hallway."

"Can you imagine what would happen if you told Dick? That you dated the 'real' Madison Sinclair in high school? And that he'd been fucking Cindy Mackenzie? He'd flip his lid!" Mac laughed and rolled on her side to face Cassidy. She was getting a crick on her neck from turning her head to look at him. Cassidy did the same.

"He'd probably get some cheap thrill from having sex with someone from 'the wrong side of the tracks,'" Cassidy surmised. "Then he'd tell me we should try a partner swap to see who was better."

Mac laughed a genuine laugh for the first time since they'd started discussing the whole thing. She noticed that Cassidy's eyes kept darting towards her lips. It wasn't a smart idea, but she had to know. Would it be the same? Every time they'd kissed in the past, she'd felt like there was something lacking his kisses. The passion she craved, the idea that he wanted her as much as she wanted him hadn't been there. Knowing now what was going on with him back then, he understood why he shied away from her advances. Did he still have that issue? Mac pulled his head towards her and pressed her mouth to his. Cassidy eagerly responded to her kiss in a way that he'd never done before. He rolled himself so that he was partially lying on top of her and continued to kiss her lips and neck. Mac noticed that he smelled the same and it comforted her. Mac felt him reaching under her blouse when a light shined on them and Cassidy pulled his hands back.

"Mac, you tramp!" Dick's voice came through the dark. It was hard to see anything when Dick was shining the light right into their faces.

Mac stood up and adjusted her blouse. "Cassidy, I'll text you tomorrow about the website?"

Cassidy nodded and watched as Mac made her way back through the beach house and to her car. "Fuck. I was getting somewhere with her, Dick!" Cassidy reached out and punched Dick.

"I could tell."

"And you decided to cockblock me?"

"I really wasn't thinking," Dick said as he helped Cassidy gather up the things he and Mac had brought out. "It's like I can't control myself sometimes."

"Yeah, I noticed," Cassidy said as he followed Dick into the house.


	9. Chapter 9

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I lied. This isn't the last chapter until July 4th.

Chapter 8

Mac sat down in the restaurant across from Veronica. She didn't remove the sunglasses she had come in wearing. "God, I am so hung over."

Veronica frowned. "So you wouldn't be interested in the bottomless mimosas?" She waited for a laugh that didn't come.

"Ha-ha," Mac said sarcastically. "No, I was up late drinking and getting felt up by Cassidy. This would have been my dream in high school."

"Felt up? This sounds promising. How did we go from being angry at him to letting him grab your goodies? I feel like I'm missing out on making a 'Beaver' joke, but that seems like it would be too much." Mac scowled at Veronica. "Can you please take those off? It's really weird talking to you and not being able to see your eyes."

Mac sighed and pulled of her sunglasses. She squinted at the bright light's sudden appearance. "I gave in to my impulses. Last night, I told him I wanted to play a game." Veronica raised her eyebrows and leaned forward to listen more closely. "Oh, don't get so excited. I told him I wanted to pretend that we had never met before. I wanted to see there was a chance for a relationship with him."

"And what did you find out?"

"That it's definitely there. But remember in high school when I was stressed out because he never put the moves on me? Now a new worry has cropped up. I'm starting to worry he's only interested in me for sex. I didn't think this would be an issue with Cassidy. Like EVER." Mac looked sorrowfully at Veronica. "What am I going to do?''

"What makes you think that? Who initiated the feeling up? You or Cassidy?"

Mac hid her face behind her menu. "Me."

"You haven't received any late night booty calls or unwanted dick pics or requests for naked pictures, have you?"

Mac shook her head. "No! Are you kidding me? I know Cassidy's confidence has improved, but I don't think he'd ever do that."

"So that's not an issue you need to worry about." Veronica looked at Mac who was resting her head on the table. "Why do you look so sad? It seems like you had a great night."

Mac looked Veronica was with doleful look on her face. "We have a history of him breaking my heart in the worst possible ways. Am I being stupid? Am *I* stupid?"

Veronica considered her words before she spoke. "I think we all have to take chances in relationships. You can't stop yourself from getting in a relationship with someone because you worry about what will happen if you break up. Just be careful. I think Cassidy has changed a lot, but that doesn't mean he can't break your heart."

Silence fell between the two women as they looked through the brunch menu.

Mac's phone lit up and from across the table Veronica could see that Mac had received a text message from Cassidy. "Ooh, maybe this is the dick pic we've been waiting for," Mac said wryly as she unlocked her phone to read it. "He says Dick is having a Christmas party on Friday and wants to know if I can make it." Mac looked at Veronica. "Are you going? Logan's back in town, right? Please go. I don't want to be stuck at a party with all the people who didn't want to talk to me in high school and probably don't want to talk to me now."

"Yeah, Logan was planning to go. I was going to skip it and hang out with my dad, but I suppose I can go and keep you company."

Mac smiled and sent a message back to Cassidy telling him that she'd be there.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 9

Mac checked the clock on dashboard of her car. Shit. Cassidy had asked her to be at Dick's party by 9 and here she was arriving at a little past 10:30. There were times when she really loved working for Kane Software, but today had not been that day. There were a million bugs in the software the junior engineers had created. The little bastards had dropped the buggy software off to her at 5:00 and run out of the building like their hair was on fire. Mac figured they did a sloppy job, knew it, and had run out before Mac could check their work. She was stuck with the debugging and she was going to make them pay for it when they returned to work on Monday.

Thankfully, it looked like the party was still going. Once she realized she was going to be late, she'd sent Cassidy a text telling him what had happened and that she'd be there as soon as she could. Cassidy had told her to come over whenever she could and he'd see her then. Mac felt lucky that Veronica was going to the party as well. Veronica had agreed to go into her condo and pick up the clothes that she'd been planning to wear. Logan had dropped Veronica off at Kane Software while he was on his way to Dick's party and Veronica would go with Mac to the party.

"I hope Logan isn't going to be too pissed it took us so long to get here," Mac was leaning against the car and taking off the shoes she wore to work for a pair that Veronica had picked out. "I didn't even know these were in my closet. My feet are going to be killing me by the end of the night."

"Make Cassidy rub them," Veronica shrugged. "C'mon, Logan has been sending me pictures of all the ridiculous stuff people have been doing all night. I want to see the live show." Veronica grabbed Mac's hand and began pulling her up to Dick's house. "Geez, do you think that Dick has enough decorations up? I really think he hasn't done enough to get us all in the Christmas spirit."

There were at least a dozen Christmas lawn decorations littering the lawn in front of Dick's beach house. Mac decided her favorite had to be the stegosaurus wearing a Santa had that turned its head from side to side. Mac pointed it out and said, "I want that one. I don't care what my HOA says, I need it."

Veronica knocked on the door and they waited a few minutes for someone to answer. Dick finally opened the door and it appeared he was wearing his flask belt again. "Oh good, you're here."

Mac and Veronica looked at each other. "Which one of us are you talking to?" Mac asked.

Dick waved his finger at both of them. "Both of you. Logan and Cassidy have been keeping their eyes on the door all night. I can't get them to do anything fun."

Mac edged her way past Dick and left Veronica to continue to be hassled by Dick. It wasn't hard to find Cassidy. He was talking to someone she recognized as a former classmate about Phoenix Land Trust. Mac waved to get Cassidy's attention and she watched as he told the man to wait a moment.

"Hey, you finally made it!" Cassidy pulled her into a hug. "I'm trying to generate other revenue streams for Phoenix Land Trust. Do you think you can stick around here for awhile while I do some business?"

Mac nodded. "Sure. If you can't find me, send me a text. I'll be around here somewhere."

Mac found her way to Veronica and spend the next hour discussing Veronica's latest case while watching Dick and Logan challenge anyone who crossed their paths to arm wrestling contests. Apparently Over the Top had been playing on cable earlier in the evening and they were now obsessed with demonstrating their own strength.

"I spoke to the store owner and he said all of the camera footage is stored on a database, but according to his lawyer, I can't have access to it. So I need you to hack into it," Veronica was explaining to Mac.

"It should be easy to do, but you know that if you're not supposed to have access to it, you can't give the information to your client," Mac said.

"No, I know. I just need to know if there's a case or not. If you can get me footage, I can look for other clues."

Mac nodded. "Yeah, alright. Just send me the specifics when you have some time and I'll get it for you. It shouldn't be hard."

Just then, Cassidy sat down next to her. "I like this dress," he said and placed his hand far too high on her thigh than she was comfortable with. Mac and Veronica exchanged puzzled glances. Cassidy had gained some confidence in the previous years, but this behavior was odd.

Mac smiled at Cassidy and pushed his hand to a place on her leg that she was more comfortable with. "Where have you been all this time?"

"I was talking business with some guys who wanted to play quarters. I am really bad at that game," Cassidy slurred and laid his head on Mac's shoulder. "Are these tights or stockings? I can never remember which is which." Cassidy began petting her leg.

Mac looked at Veronica who mouthed "Oh my god, he is so drunk" to Mac.

The party was beginning to wind down and people were starting to go home, so Mac decided it wouldn't be a big deal if she carted Cassidy off to bed before he started making an ass of himself. "Hey, you know what we should do?" Cassidy looked at her quizzically. "Let's get you into bed. It's been a really long day and you've had a little too much to drink. How does that sound?"

Cassidy nodded and let Mac pull him to his feet. She let Cassidy lead the way to his bedroom. After opening a door that Cassidy thought was his bedroom and discovering a couple attempting to have sex, they finally found his bedroom.

"Alright, Cass, it's time for you to go to bed," Mac said as she watched Cassidy begin to pull off his clothes. "Hey, maybe you should wait until I'm out of the room to do that."

Cassidy finished stripping down to his boxer shorts and pulled the covers over himself. "It's not like there's anything there that you haven't seen before."

Mac grimaced. They'd agreed not to talk about the past and here he was bringing up a painful night for both of them. She decided it would be best to not to engage him. "Okay, so I'll send you a text tomorrow morning to make sure you're okay." Mac leaned over the bed to where Cassidy was laying and patted what she assumed was his shoulder. "Goodnight."

Cassidy's hand snaked out of the covers and he pulled them off of his head and looked at her glassy eyes. "Stay with me tonight?"

"Stay with you? Like sleep in your bed with you? Cassidy, I'm not sure that would be a good idea."

"Please?" He looked up at her with his sad eyes and Mac knew he had her.

Mac kicked off her shoes and turned off the light. "Okay, but nothing's happening tonight. Don't get any ideas. I'm here to sleep and keep an eye on you tonight." She heard Cassidy agree and felt him cuddle up to her. Mac closed her eyes and allowed herself to fall asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 10

Cassidy woke up with pounding headache. He tried to remember why his mouth was so dry and what had caused his head to hurt so much. Cassidy began to roll over to the other side of his bed to check the time on his cell phone, only to bump into another body. The body groaned in its sleep and slapped him away. Cassidy sat up in bed to try and get a better look at the person in bed with him. Mac. How had she ended up in bed with him and what had happened between them? He lifted the covers of the bed to see if he was wearing anything. He had boxers on and he noticed that Mac was still fully clothed.

The memories of what had happened earlier in the night started to come back to him. He remembered setting up a few business meetings with some people he knew from high school and then he remembered getting really drunk playing quarters with a couple of frat brothers of Dick's. He had ended up getting them to agree to a meeting, but not before he had gotten completely wasted. He had a hard time remembering anything after that, but things couldn't have been too bad if he'd managed to convince Mac to sleep with him (even if they had actually just slept together). What if he'd been unable to perform like that night in the Neptune Grand? Since his stay in the hospital, he hadn't much trouble with that sort of thing. But some part of him wondered if maybe he was cursed when it came to Mac and the pressure of trying to make things happen tonight had caused some issues.

Unable to help himself, Cassidy shook Mac awake. "Mac," he tried whispering in her ear. Mac tried swatting him away and ended up slapping him in the face. "Ow!" Cassidy spoke louder than he should have. After a few seconds of waiting to see if Mac would wake up, Dick walked into the room.

He was using his cell phone as a flashlight and shined it into Cassidy's eyes as he spoke. "What is going on in here, man? I'm trying to entertain a lady friend and I hear you in here yelling. Is Mac getting rough with you?" Dick had at least managed to whisper this into the darkness of the room.

Cassidy gave Dick a dark look. "Can you get that out of my eyes?" Dick tuned off the flashlight app on his phone. "How could you hear me all the way in your bedroom? You're at the other end of the house."

Dick noticed that Mac was sleeping and gestured for Cassidy to follow him into the hallway. Cassidy followed and waited for Dick to explain himself. "I was on my way here to check on you. Last time I saw you, Mac was carting you off to bed because you were pretty drunk."

Cassidy felt panic set in. "How bad was I?"

"Veronica said you started putting your hands all over Mac. You were petting her legs," Dick laughed.

Cassidy put his head in his hands. "Oh god. Why did I do that? Was she completely disgusted with me?" Cassidy punched Dick in the arm. "Stop laughing, it's not funny."

Dick shrugged. "Dunno. I wouldn't think so. She's sleeping in bed with you tonight. If she was put off by your behavior, she'd be in her own bed."

The door to Cassidy's bedroom creaked open and Mac's face peered out at them. Dick had turned on his phone again and shined the light in Mac's direction. "Can you guys keep it down? I'm really tired." Mac shielded her eyes from Dick's cell phone. "Can you stop shining that in my face? I feel like I'm in 'The Blair Witch Project'.

"Your hair's all deflated," Dick commented.

Mac gave Dick an annoyed look. "What does that have to do with anything? I've been sleeping. I'm sorry if I don't look perfect for you." Mac looked at Cassidy. "Are you ready to come back to bed?"

Cassidy nodded. "I have to talk to Dick. I'll be in in a minute."

They watched as Mac shut the door. "Couldn't even seal the deal? How is that possible?" Dick whispered to Cassidy.

"I'm not going to try anything while she's over here trying to sleep," Cassidy walked a few steps closer to his bedroom door. "Admit it; you weren't coming to check on me. You were trying to see if something happened between Mac and me."

"Maybe," Dick said. "Veronica said she took you up to your room. She never came back down. I had a bet with Logan about whether or not you were able to make anything happen."

Cassidy put his hand on the doorknob to his bedroom. "And what did you bet?"

"I bet that you'd be a gentleman," Dick said as he started back to his bedroom.


	12. Chapter 12

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I took a lot of what Cassidy says to Mac in the chapter from interviews Kyle Gallner did about the final episode of season 2.

Chapter 11

Cassidy opened the door and slipped back in bed with Mac. After a few minutes of hearing her toss and turn, Cassidy decided to speak. "I don't know if you heard anything Dick said, but I'm sorry."

Mac turned her body to face him. "I know. He's just . . ." Mac fumbled for words to describe Dick. "Dick's just Dick. I'm not surprised he wanted to see what happened with us. Dick's your brother; he's interested in what happens to you. Even if he voices it in the most offensive way possible."

In the darkness of the room, Cassidy felt like he could be finally open up to Mac. "He's not wrong. I do want to do all of that with you. I'm just not sure where I stand with you. I haven't really explained myself to you."

Mac sighed and then spoke. "It's been ten years, Cassidy. I've gotten over all of that."

"Are you sure? Veronica said that when you guys talked about me, kind words were not always used. I don't want you to be mad at me, but I understand why you would be."

"For awhile, I was really angry with you. I was mad that you had this side of yourself that you couldn't tell me about. I understand that you didn't want to share what happened with Woody to me. But you never told me how depressed you were, how hopeless you felt. I felt betrayed that you couldn't share those feelings with me," Mac said to Cassidy.

"I didn't feel safe sharing any of my feelings with anyone," Cassidy said. "Do you know how Dick and my dad treated me? They used to have contests to see who could make me cry. One of Dick's fondest memories was taping my feet to my bicycle. I pedaled around furiously for hours until he remembered what he did and came to check on me." Cassidy could hear Mac take in a shocked breath and continued. "Veronica wasn't wrong when she told you to stay away from me that night. I mean, she was wrong when she thought I was the bus bomber, but I'm not this nice guy that you think I am."

"What do you mean?" Mac asked curiously.

"I blamed a lot of what happened with the abuse and how he and Dick treated me on my dad. So I led Veronica to figuring out that my dad was scamming people out of their money because I wanted to punish him for his treatment of me."

Mac sat up in bed and looked down at him. "What were you hoping would happen when you did that?"

Cassidy leaned on his elbow and looked up at her. "I was hoping he'd go to jail. I'm really pissed he's escaped justice. Look, I know he's my father, but he was an abusive asshole to me. I'm not sorry about what I did. If you can't handle that, I don't know what to tell you."

It took a few heart pounding moments for Mac to speak. "I understand why you did what did and your dad deserved to get caught. I just can't help but wonder what would happen if you got angry with me. What would you do to me? Would you rat me out about the less than legal ways I help out Veronica? That would cost me my job with Kane Software."

Cassidy sat up and wrapped his arms around Mac. "I want you to trust me. I wouldn't do that to you."

Mac turned and looked at him. "So what happened? Why did you steal all my clothes and leave me in the hotel room by myself? Why did you push me away after grad night?"

"You know that I loved you back then, right? You were the only person to like me for me. You didn't care that I was Dick's brother or that I had money. You just wanted to spend time with me. Hanging out with you was this big escape for me. You just came into my life at the wrong time." Cassidy sighed and pulled Mac into his arms. He could feel her tears on her cheeks.

"What do you mean? How could I come into your life at the wrong time?" Mac sniffled and tried wiping away her tears.

"I was too far gone at that time. I couldn't really be a boyfriend to you. I had too many problems to be in a relationship with anyone," Cassidy said as he wiped at the tears on her face. "Everything came to a head on grad night. I couldn't be intimate with you and I felt like a complete failure. We'd already broken up once because I couldn't get physical with you. I didn't want that to happen again."

"Didn't you know how I felt about you? I wouldn't have done that to you."

Cassidy turned Mac to face. "Mac, listen to me. I didn't feel like I could trust anyone to be nice to me with having ulterior motives or admitting that there was something wrong without being humiliated. It wasn't you. It was just the wrong time."

"And now?"

Cassidy shrugged. "Now you're in my life again and I want to see where this can go. I want to be with you and be honest about everything."

"How do I know that I can trust you? You broke my heart twice."

This is what Cassidy had always worried about. He knew that Mac would have a hard time trusting him after everything that they had gone through. It was hard coming up with an answer that would satisfy her. "I can promise is that I'll always be honest with you. I promise that I won't hide anything from you again. I want to make this relationship work. You have always been the only woman for me. Everyone else has been a substitute for you."

Mac looked at him and tried to decide if he was lying to her, and saw nothing but honesty there. "Alright, Cassidy. Let's try to make this work. There's one thing I need for you to do."

Cassidy looked at her quizzically. "Yeah?"

Mac nodded her head back towards the bed. "It's time to put out, Casablancas. Show me how much you want me."

Cassidy ducked his head and looked at her. "Right now? Are you sure?"

Mac fell back on the pillows and nodded her head at him. "Yeah, let's go. I've been waiting ten years for this."

Cassidy laughed and leaned over her. "Alright, but all these clothes have got to go."


End file.
